


Detour

by kaghani



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Friendship/Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 05:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5363036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaghani/pseuds/kaghani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I need to understand my true sight. But you and me, that wasn’t part of it. Our fates aren’t intertwined. I think you’ve always known that, deep down.”</p><p>An AU where Percy and Rachel still aren’t fated to be together, but they give it a shot, anyway. Set in between BotL and TLO, possibly reaches into TLO.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Detour

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't satisfied with the "I was attracted to you because you're a Greek demigod" explanation at all. You don't kiss a guy just because you think ~something about him~ could possibly be a clue to your destiny as virgin fortune teller, know what I mean??
> 
> Anyway, this was my way of fleshing out those feelings and seeing some real closure on this front. Hope you enjoy it!

The good news was that Percy had made a really good friend just a few days into high school. The bad news was that his new – and only – friend was the Goode High School cafeteria-employee who made sandwiches at the deli station.

The ugly news was that yesterday, instead of sitting in the cafeteria tables with the other students, Percy spent all of lunch eating his ham-and-Swiss on rye standing next to Lettice’s station while she made sandwiches for other students, listening to her story about grocery shopping with her husband the night before.  

Alright, that was mean.  _Fine_ , it made Percy a first-rate jerk to call a really nice woman’s company ugly. Besides, he rarely met grown-ups who cared for his presence, let alone those who enjoyed his company. But as a freshman a few days into high school, especially given Percy’s track record in the echelons of popularity at school – which was, generally, below the very bottom – eating lunch with a lunch lady instead of with the other kids made a guy dread lunchtime a little bit.

Percy drowns out the chatter of students around him as he waits in line, trying to concentrate on finding a way to politely get out of yesterday’s situation. He could tell Lettice that he needed to take the sandwich to the principal’s office immediately, Mr. Huang’s orders. But what if she asked him what he did to get into trouble on the fourth day of school? Percy counts two students in line before he had to face her. He couldn’t come up with a convincing story in time! If Annabeth, his best friend, were here, she would have cooked up an excellent lie and save his behind. In fact, she’d probably never be in this situation…

Percy catches a movement in front of him in his peripheral vision (since he prefers to keep his eyes down in case of potentially offensive eye contact with students twice his size), and figures the line’s finally moving. He lazily shuffles his feet forward – and walks right into the person in front of him.

“Hey!” It’s a familiar shrill voice, and Percy gets a face full of frizzy red hair, but that’s a far, far second thought to _I’m a klutz and a jackass and there’s a girl mad at me_.

“I’m sorry, I thought –” he begins, and then she turns around. Her hair is pulled back with a headband. She’s wearing the same uniform as him, although hers features a colorful rhinestone design of something near the bottom hem of her polo; it takes Percy a moment to realize that it’s a satyr, surrounded by a vine-y pattern. A dozen or so Sharpies dangle from a keychain on her lanyard, next to her ID card.

“Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” Percy breathes, giving her a tentative smile.

“Percy-whatever-Jackson,” Rachel says, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

Percy feels his smile spread wider and more genuinely. He shrugs. “I don’t have a middle name.”

He suddenly notices that he’s weirdly fidgeting, shifting from foot to foot, clenching and unclenching his hands in his pockets. He hopes Rachel doesn’t notice – she’s the most observant person he knows, so that’s a bit of a lost cause. But for some reason, he feels sort of awkward standing there in front of her in his khakis and his Goode High School uniform polo shirt buttoned up to his neck. It’s like worlds colliding – they’d just been in a 3000-year-old maze together last month.  _Those_ friends and  _that_  life was always so foreign in the realm of school; unless, of course, it was bad news like Canadians or Mrs. Dowd. There was always room for any kind of bad news in Percy’s life – demigod life or ‘American-teenager’ life.

He’s also sort of nervous because he hadn’t actually contacted her, like he’d said he would. Percy’d been a little afraid of prematurely assuming they were at the “hanging together” stage.

Rachel leans her head in and looks up at him meaningfully. “Did you push me because I cut you?” She enunciates each syllable carefully, like Percy has difficulties understanding simple sentences.

“You cut me?” Percy asks. He realizes a second later he might come off as someone who has difficulty understanding simple sentences.

Rachel leans back and draws her chin up. “Wow. You’d think being a demigod would make you more attentive.”

Percy bristles. His eyes dart around involuntarily. “Hey, seriously, could you try not to mention that at school and stuff?”

A group of guys standing around a vending machine and brandishing lacrosse sticks laugh raucously at a story of the “do you remember this thing we did at  _X_  person’s summer house in  _Y_  pristine lakeside village” variety. Percy imagines having a loud conversation with Rachel about their summer, like those guys. Percy’d say,  _Oh hey, Rachel! Do you remember when the evil titan lord rose again? And you hit him with a plastic hairbrush like a total boss!_ And Rachel would be like,  _That was_ wild _! Oh, but it sucked that the god of the wild died._

Rachel jerks her thumb in the lacrosse team’s direction. “Sure,” she says, leaning into his personal space again, “If those guys paid attention to something other than themselves for a second and heard you were a demigod? I bet they’d freak out and start a fan club. It would be such a nuisance for you.”

Percy snorts and ducks to hide his smile. “Well, when you put it that way…”

“What are you having darlin’?” Lettice asks Rachel, and Rachel moves up to the counter. Lettice spots Percy, and greets him just as Rachel starts to answer. “Percy Jackson, how are you this afternoon?”

“I’m alright Lettice. How are you?”

“Fine, just fine. Courtney had soccer practice yesterday, and my husband just  _forgot_ to pick that girl up from school. I don’t understand where he’s got his head!” She glances over to Rachel again with an incredulous look, but she seems to realize she’s supposed to be making a sandwich for her. “I’m sorry honey, what did you want?”

“That’s okay. Guys forget stuff all the time.”

Lettice cackles, leaning in conspiratorially. “They sure do, honey!”

Percy catches himself shifting from foot to foot again.

“Um…” Rachel rubs her eyebrow. “Can I have a veggie patty sandwich, please?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lettice says. She sticks a patty in the microwave and starts assembling the rest of the sandwich.

Rachel turns to Percy once she’s finished giving her order. “Are you sitting somewhere today?”

“Uh…” Percy blurts after a few moments. 

Rachel rolls her eyes. “Look, if you’re sitting somewhere, that’s fine. But if you’re not, you can sit with me.”

Percy shakes his head through her whole explanation. “I’m – yeah, I’m not…” He clears his throat.  _Gods_ , she was just asking him to sit next to her at lunch. Why does he have to be awkward about everything? “I’ll sit with you.”

Rachel doesn’t smile, exactly, but her jaw flutters a little and the look on her face is definitely pleased. “I’ll wait for you by the counter.”

She picks up the sandwich on top of the glass divider and goes to pay for it. Percy hears someone clear their throat. He turns, and Lettice is giving him a funny look.

“Um.” His cheeks suddenly feel really warm.

Lettice shrugs, spreading her palms in a ‘none of my business’ gesture. “What’ll you have, Percy?”

“Ham, please. And some regular cheese. And white bread.”

“That all?” She doesn’t look up from her counter. Her mouth is twitching, and she  _can’t_  be thinking that…Percy and… _Rachel_ …

“Yep. So…any plans for this weekend?”

“Mm-mm!” Lettice shakes her head, wraps up the sandwich, and places it firmly in Percy’s hand. “You don’t keep that young lady waiting.”

And for whatever reason, she  _winks_. Percy’s cheeks radiate so much heat, he feels like the woodwork in there could combust any second now.

He clears his throat. “Thanks, Lettice. Have a good weekend.”

“Enjoy your lunch!” She calls after him, and on the way to their table, Rachel asks him if he’s feeling alright, he looks kind of ill and ‘out of breath or something’.

“Thanks,” Percy says, in lieu of telling her what Lettice thinks of them.

He stretches out his legs and apologizes when he accidentally elbows someone’s side on the bench next to him. A group of girls exchange homework answers loudly to his other side. He’s got his backpack wedged between his calves because there’s no room for it anywhere else. Rachel starts talking about her schedule, and asking Percy about his, and she uses her hands a lot when she’s explaining things.

Percy thinks lunch could be something to look forward to on Monday.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Comments are super appreciated :)


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